Guest Film Review: The Grey

The Grey directed by Joe Carnahan (Open Road Films, R, 117 minutes)
Starring Liam Neeson, Dermont Mulroney, and Frank Grillo

“Dealing” with Death 

Many films in recent time depict the violent collision of man and nature (as if we ever were truly at odds with it in the first place). The Grey, in many ways, rather than simply offering an action packed narrative, tries desperately to use this cold struggle as a discussion on the inevitability of death and the various ways contemporary men deal with it. I say “men” and literally meaning male, because the only death we see of a woman is in such striking contrast to what the males face. This ”dealing” is stretched over two hours of claustrophobia in the most open of wilderness.

The story centers on a broken anti-hero, ready for suicide, named Ottman (Liam Neeson), who awakes to the bloody aftermath of a plane crash in the frozen wilderness of Alaska. His companions are a collection of oil-rig ruffians who fill all the prototypical clichéd roles we often see in fellowship movies on a quest.

Photo by Kimberly French

In this case, the quest is survival. It does not take long for these men to realize that the cold, desolation, and the prospect of never being found is not their greatest enemy, it is the indigenous grey wolves (which at times are unsuccessfully depicted by CG and have moments of looking quite fake).

And thus begins a sort of Jets-versus-Sharks movie, only one of the gangs didn’t just barely survive, hitting the tundra at 400 miles an hour without food or guns or any other truly worthwhile survival supplies. Not to mention it was on the turf of a gang of dogs the size of men (still difficult to truly imagine), who are also, in nearly every way, physically superior to man, especially in this environment.

The writing is definitely on the wall quite early on and the foreshadowing doesn’t disappoint, doesn’t deliver a miracle, nor provide a respite from the existential uneasiness the film conveys.

The Power of Liam Neeson

The Grey definitely provides reasons to go out of your way to watch it, not the least of which is Liam Neeson. He once again shows his subtlety in character development and never overdoes it. Always powerful, he often takes a back seat to watch the heat and flash of the other characters, which gives them space to develop in a very short amount of time. With occasional lapses in script quality, mainly due to believability, Neeson ushers forth the text with a gravitas that few of his contemporaries could muster.

Silence as a Sound 

On equal footing with Neeson’s acting is The Grey’s treatment of sound design and its cinematic depiction of the cold northern territories. It engages you in unique, beautiful ways and one is struck in particular by the moments of silence. They happen at the right time and bring with it both horror and a haunting certainty that for once humanity’s hubris holds no sway. One gets the feeling that this silence was to be a supportive beam in the architecture of the narrative, and it was indeed successful.

The Philosophical Conundrum of a Recommendation 

The Grey is not for everyone, but not just because of its vulgarity, violence, and intense situations. In one corner will be moviegoers who see the addition of philosophical ideas in what should be a simple survival movie as tiresome and pedantic. How dare we go to the movies to think! In the other corner will be those who find these philosophical ideas intriguing, but are surprised by the fact that redemption is mysteriously absent and will grow confused and disillusioned by the sequence of events that befall the seven survivors. It asks questions but delivers no answers, and thank goodness. It is sometimes a strange joy to see a movie that brings with it terrible quiet, horrific beauty, and the truth that humans are still fragile.

Verdict: 4 out of 5

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Eric Barnum is a choral composer and director, currently teaching at The University of Wisconsin -Oshkosh. He is currently in the process of completing his DMA from the University of Washington under the direction of Dr. Geoffrey Boers. In addition to his love for music, he loves philosophy, theology, food, and beer. More content from Eric can be found at http://ericwilliambarnum.wordpress.com/ or at http://ewbmusic.com/

Guest Film Review: In Time

In Time directed by Andrew Niccol (Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Strike Entertainment, PG-13, 109 minutes)

Starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, and Cillian Murphy

Science without Morals

In Time, the newest work from writer-director Andrew Niccol, is a thoughtful addition to the genre of dystopian futuristic films. Niccol wrote and directed Gattaca, which is easily one of the best science fiction films ever created, and he returns to the theme with a film about a society that has embraced science and technology to the point where it loses its moral compass.

In Time shows us a society where genetic engineering has effectively solved the problem of aging and death — everyone is immortal and stops aging beyond their 25th birthday. Thus, we are presented with the situation where sons and daughters appear to be the exact same age as their biological parents.  

Population Control

A society that has achieved immortality must deal with the problem of finite resources for an infinitely growing population. This "near-futuristic" society has chosen, at birth, to give each person a glowing digital clock on his or her forearm. Everyone is given exactly one year to live and that year starts counting down at exactly 25 years. When the clock reaches zero, the person receives a jolt and instantly dies.

A result of this innovation is that "time" has supplanted money as the effective currency — workers are paid literally by the hour, a coffee is 4 minutes, service by a prostitute equals one hour, and a bus ride costs the time it takes to walk to your destination. Time can be transferred to others through a special handshake or collected by various portable and non-portable scanners.

Minutes before Clocking Out

Justin Timberlake plays Will Salas, a 28-year-old factory worker living day to day with rarely more than 24 hours on his clock. At a bar he encounters a rarity, a man with more than a century of time stored up, whom he saves from a gang of time-stealers. This rich man in return gifts all but a few minutes of his time to Will before "clocking out", content with the life that he has lived, and depressed at the inequality within his society where many involuntarily clock out each day so people like him can live forever.

Will uses his newfound time to cross "time-zones" to utopian New Greenwich where nearly all its inhabitants have centuries or even millennia of time, acquired through skimming time off the multitudes of lower classes.

In New Greenwich, Will is introduced to Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), daughter of one of the richest men in the world, but also is confronted by a Timekeeper (Cillian Murphy) who wants to pin the theft of the rich man's century on Will. Rather than go into custody, Will kidnaps Sylvia, evading the Timekeepers, and going on a journey where the couple explore the morality of a society where the deaths of millions prop up the immortality of a few.  Along the way, the characters learn the value of time, since in New Greenwich, the “time-rich” leisurely enjoy every activity, unlike in the slums where eating, drinking, and walking are done as quickly as possible. This dichotomy clearly illustrates the truth that the greatest resource one possesses is time — if it is used well.

The Morality of Redistributionism

It's easy to see this film as an allegory where time is equivalent to money and feel either vindicated or disappointed when the film explores the morality of redistributionism, similar to the folktale of Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. I think this film goes deeper than that. Much like how Gattaca displayed a society whose genetic discrimination seems horrific to the audience while the characters largely did not notice the injustice right before them, we see in Will and Sylvia an awakening of senses to the injustices of the status quo.  

The deeper meaning is to remove the blinders from all our eyes, to look for the injustice that may be right before us, and to respond to the call to make society a better place. Who knows what modern practices will seem horrific to our future descendants?

In Time is a well-executed and thought-provoking sci-fi/action film that appeals to a wide audience, even those who generally don’t appreciate sci-fi. Nearly all aspects of the film’s production are good, the acting is acceptable, and it is noteworthy that Justin Timberlake has made a successful career transition from music and comedy to dramatic acting to the point that he feels quite natural in this type of role. If you are looking for a good sci-fi/action film, I recommend checking out In Time.

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Robb Stankey is a graduate student in Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his interests in genetics and science fiction, he enjoys homebrewing and cooking with his wife, Jessie. More content from Robb can be found at http://r.robbplusjessie.com/.